Gavin McAteer said the Republic of Ireland had no fear of the potential opposition to come in the knockout stages after topping their group at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
Colin O'Brien's side followed wins over Panama and Uzbekistan with a scoreless draw against Paraguay on Tuesday to finish on seven points, and the Boys in Green will now go into the last-32 at the tournament in Qatar and will find out their upcoming opponents later on Tuesday.
Speaking after the game, Finn Harps midfielder McAteer, who was among four changes to the starting line-up for the Paraguay game, was bullish about Ireland's chances going forward.
"Topping the group that was the aim coming into it, so yeah we've topped the group, we'll see who we get now but we're just taking it game by game," he said.
"Whoever we get, we think we can beat. We'd back ourselves as a team, we back each other.
"We know how good we are, we know how good we can be so just taking it game by game."
McAteer was making his second appearance at the tournament after a cameo against Panama. But Tuesday marked his first start and he took pride in the moment, particularly as the 17-year-old shared the pitch with Finn Harps team-mate Josh Cullen, with whom he had played in the Donegal club's academy since the age of about nine.
"It's a dream come true to be fair, something you dream about since you were a kid," he said.
"To make it happen today, it's an honour to be fair.
"I don't think (Cullen and I) have played in a tournament this big so to both start today was a great moment for the two of us and the club."
The draw against Paraguay was the first game in Qatar in which Ireland failed to find the net but McAteer relished the hard-fought nature of the contest, and felt that his experience "playing against men" in the Irish second tier stood him in good stead.
"It was tough to be fair but every international game is tough," he said.
"We had good prep on them so we knew what we were coming into. They're very aggressive which I'm kind of used to playing in the First Division.
"I enjoyed it, it was tough but that's why you play the game."
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